In the continuing development of upward acting sectional doors, the need persists, in particular, for door panel construction and methods of assembly which satisfy all of the criteria for residential and commercial sectional doors with respect to performance, durability, manufacturing cost and ease of assembly. In the last mentioned regard a need has continued to exist for sectional door panels which may be fabricated conveniently and rapidly at the location of manufacture and assembly of the respective panels while maintaining accurate positioning of hinge components on the panels and while also providing panels which may be conveniently interconnected to each other at the point of installation of the door. For example, door assembly and installation procedures are improved if the door installer is not required to attach hinge components to the respective panels at the location of door installation. Accordingly, it is desirable to be able to accurately preassemble hinge components on the respective panels at the location of panel fabrication.
Conventional materials used for the manufacture of sectional upward acting doors include formed sheet metal parts which comprise the panel skin as well as the reinforcing members connected to the skin, commonly known as stiles. The need has persisted for sectional door panel construction wherein the rolled or otherwise formed metal or plastic skin members may be quickly and accurately connected to the reinforcing stile members and whereby the stile members are properly located and are also adapted to support door guide members and hinge components. In this last mentioned regard, the accurate positioning of cooperating hinge members on each of the door panels is important, particularly for door panels which are designed to be connected to each other at the point of installation by mounting each of the panels on top of or adjacent each other and between the door guide structure or guide tracks.
The present invention achieves many of the desiderata mentioned above as well as other objectives which will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.
The present invention provides an improved panel construction, hinge assembly, method of panel assembly and method of door assembly for a sectional door.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, an improved sectional door panel construction is provided by a combination of a rolled metal or plastic or otherwise formed skin part which is cooperable with plural reinforcing members or stiles whereby the skin part and the stiles may be quickly and accurately assembled to each other in proper position of the stiles. The present invention also provides for the stiles to be secured to the skin part with mechanical fasteners which are also operable to secure to the panel respective hinge parts of a hinge assembly for the door.
Further in accordance with the invention, a door panel skin part is provided with respective top and bottom edges which are formed to provide an improved pinch resistant profile and to include stile locating slots. The panel reinforcing stiles are provided with cooperating locating flanges, which are formed by extrusion or punch operations, as well as other locating features, including a plurality of spaced apart clips which are integrally formed with the stiles and are operable to engage the skin part.
Still further, a sectional door panel according to the present invention includes improved hinge members which are adapted to be accurately positioned on the panel and securely fastened thereto during an assembly step which also provides for securing the panel skin part to a stile. Each of the hinge parts includes a locating boss or the like which is operable to be disposed in a slot formed in a panel reinforcing stile which, in turn, has been formed by forming the extruded or punched locating flange.
The present invention further provides improved guide member support brackets which are conveniently and accurately located on opposed panel end stiles and secured thereto in an improved manner.
Still further, the present invention provides an improved sectional door panel hinge assembly including respective hinge parts which are cooperable with each other to provide for connecting the hinge parts and adjacent door panels to each other by merely pushing or snapping the hinge parts into forcible engagement with each other. The panel parts and hinge parts are configured for accurate positioning of the hinge parts on the panels and the hinge parts are advantageously connected to the panels at the location of fabrication of the panels.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, door panel reinforcing stiles and skin parts are provided which are adapted for quick assembly to each other and are configured to retain the parts in proper position with respect to each other once assembled. Final assembly is provided by securing panel hinge parts to the stiles and the skin part all at substantially the same time to facilitate the speed with which sectional door panels in accordance with the invention may be constructed and subsequently connected to each other at the point of installation.
Those skilled in the art will further appreciate the above-mentioned advantages and superior features of the invention, together with other important aspects thereof upon reading the detailed description which follows in conjunction with the drawings.